Sunday, April 12, 2009

Tubes & Ads

Friday morning at 4am I felt Jill's knuckle digging into my back."get up" she hissed as she shut off the alarm clock.Ugh. If I were going turkey hunting or fishing, I wouldn't have really been asleep.This time, however, I was getting up so I could take Kat to Iowa City to have tubes put in and adnoids taken out. The instructions were to be at the Ambulatory Surgical Center at 0545 to begin checking in.Since there was surprisingly little traffic, we got to the ASC at 0530. The sign on the door said they opened at 6am. Meanwhile, Kat sat in her carseat and yowled. I think she was hungry and thirsty.When they opened the doors and let me register, we took a seat in their waiting room. Just then, Mom walked in the door. You should have seen Kat's eyes light up! She was out of my arms in a flash! The relationship between my mother and my daughter is incredibly close. If they don't see each other once a week I think they both become depressed and lethargic.Anyway, after Mom showed up, they lead us back to an exam room and we gowned Kat. Then she got to play in the toyroom until the gas passer came to meet her and take her to surgery. He was really cool about it. He came in the first time to meet her. Then he came back with a big warm blanket and wrapped it around her and picked her up.You could see in her eyes that Kat was scared to death, but she made not a sound.then she was gone into a doorway that we could not follow.We went to the recovery room to wait for the Dr. to come and tell us that surgery had gone well, then for the delivery of my precious little girl.I sat in the easy chair after the Dr. came in to tell us that the ears were REALLY full of fluid and that her ads were swollen and irritated.When the nurse came in with her, I was ready to receive her. The nurse set her in my arms and told us how good Kat had been. She didn't cry when she woke up, we were told that 85% of kids cry.Kat looked around the room and saw my mom and whimpered. I wasn't going to let her go, though.Kat fell asleep in my arms, her neck stretched around so she could see Mom.When she woke up, she struggled and fussed but didn't want to drink.Mom stood up and told me that she might be able to get Kat to drink. So she sat down and held Kat. For the next 4 hours. Kat was so happy to be in G'ma's arms. G'ma read to her and sang to her and gently got her to drink the 4 ounces of water she needed so that we could be discharged. Kat even ate raspberry jello, which made the nurses very happy.Saturday, we couldn't keep her "quiet and calm" like the discharge instructions said. Kat has been running around the house and wanting to play with everything. She did take a 4 hour nap in the afternoon.

I'm happy everything went well. About the crying thing, that's how I could hear them bringing my boys down the hall. Not screaming, but definitely the "What-the-hell-just-happened-to-me-and-where-is-my-mom?" cry!

Glad to know all went well. One of the worst days of my life was when #1 son had his tonsils removed. Nothing like watching them go with a stranger where you cant. I was lucky, I worked at the hospital where his was done and knew everyone with him, but still, that was my baby.

About Me

- Still going crazy. Not a new parent, Wife and I have both graduated. Working full time with various projects that involves dragging adults (kicking and screaming) to face unpleasant facts. Should be good practice for parenting.
I find it helps to laugh at the world and the situations we put ourselves in. We all take ourselves so seriously. When really, life is a comedy.